The Don's Secret Twins novel · Chapter 5 of 32

Chapter 5: Zio

Fia came in the kitchen door behind me with the cannoli box and stopped.

The marshal nodded at her politely.

"Miss Barone. Lovely dress on Saturday."

Fia set the box down on the counter.

"Who's this?"

"The man who hid me," I said. "Ozzie, Coco. Upstairs, please."

"I'm not done with my milk," Coco said.

Ozzie didn't move at all.

He was watching the marshal with his pencil in his fist.

I didn't take my eyes off the marshal either.

"My file was closed in March 2021," I said. "By you. With my name signed in somebody else's handwriting."

Ezio's mother turned around from the stove.

The marshal took his glasses off and polished them on his tie.

"Paperwork," he said. "The government stopped caring about you. I didn't. I kept you safe on my own time, sweetheart. Who do you think put new locks on that duplex?"

"Who paid you?"

He smiled.

It was the same smile he gave the twins every Christmas when he brought them coloring books.

"Careful, Marin."

"Who paid you for five years?"

"The state of Ohio is going to have a lot of questions about a mother who drags two kids across five states in the middle of the night." He put his glasses back on. "One phone call. A friend at the parish office. They'll send a nice lady with a car seat."

He stood up and held his hand out to Coco.

"Come on, kiddo. Let's go find your bag."

Coco looked at me.

Ezio's man in the hall doorway shifted his weight.

He didn't come in.

The marshal had a badge on his belt, and everybody in the room had seen it.

"Coco," I said. "Sit."

She sat.

"Don't make this ugly," the marshal said.

"It's already ugly."

The front door opened and shut.

Fast footsteps came down the hall.

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